Tuesday, 12 Oct 2021

Written Answers Nos. 684-692

Animal Breeding

Questions (684, 685, 686, 687, 688)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

684. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of registered puppy farms and registered dog breeding establishments in each of the years from 2010 to 2020. [49316/21]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

685. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of inspections at registered puppy farms and registered dog breeding establishments in each of the years from 2010 to 2020. [49317/21]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

686. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of violations by registered puppy farms and registered dog breeding establishments in each of the years from 2010 to 2020. [49318/21]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

687. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of dogs or puppies sold or bred by registered puppy farms and registered dog breeding establishments in each of the years from 2010 to 2020. [49319/21]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

688. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of prosecutions for offences at or involving illegal puppy farms and or illegal dog breeding establishments in each of the years from 2010 to 2020. [49323/21]

Written answers

Minister for Rural and Community Development

I propose to take Questions Nos. 684, 685, 686, 687 and 688 together.

Each year my Department publishes annual statistics in respect of a range of the dog control responsibilities of local authorities, including those that relate to dog breeding establishments. This information is collated from annual returns received from all local authorities. Information up to and including 2020, is available at www.gov.ie/en/collection/879d4c-dog-control-statistics/

For example, information regarding dog breeding establishments can be found on pages 12-14 of the 2020 dog control statistics, with page 12 outlining the number of inspections carried out and improvement notices issued to premises registered for the first time in 2020. One improvement notice was issued to a premises applying for first time registration and two unregistered dog breeding establishments were issued with closure notices in 2020.

Page 13 details the number of inspections carried out, applications refused and improvement notices issued to existing premises in 2020. Three improvement notices and one closure notice were issued to existing premises in 2020.

Page 14, which is a summary page, shows that the number of registered dog breeding establishments in 2020 was 239. This figure includes 83 Commercial Dog Breeding Establishments (CDBEs), 85 Hunts Clubs and 49 Commercial Boarding Kennels (CBKs). The remainder of the 239 total comprises Animal Welfare Shelters (18) and training kennels (4).

I have no information on the number of dogs or pups sold or bred by registered dog breeding establishments.

Separately, the enforcement of animal welfare standards for all animals, including dogs in dog breeding establishments, is a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under the Animal Health and Welfare Acts. DAFM introduced Regulations regarding the microchipping of dogs, S.I. No. 63 of 2015, which means that all dogs must be microchipped. Furthermore, in late 2019, DAFM also introduced the Animal Health and Welfare (Sale or Supply of Pet Animals) Regulations 2019 in respect of the advertising of pet animals, including dogs. Further information can be found at

www.agriculture.gov.ie/animalhealthwelfare/salesupplyandadvertisingofpets/

Both Departments work closely with each other to ensure a coordinated approach is taken in this area.

Question No. 685 answered with Question No. 684.

Question No. 686 answered with Question No. 684.

Question No. 687 answered with Question No. 684.

Question No. 688 answered with Question No. 684.

Community Development Projects

Questions (689, 690)

Joe Carey

Question:

689. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount in grants and funding awarded to an organisation (details supplied) in each of the past ten years throughout the country; the amounts applied for each year; the total amounts awarded; the amounts draw down; the type of projects that these grants were awarded for; if any of these were for capital projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49525/21]

Joe Carey

Question:

690. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount in grants and funding awarded to an organisation (details supplied) in each of the past ten years in County Clare; the amounts applied for each year; the total amounts awarded; the amounts draw down; the type of projects that these grants were awarded for; if any of these were for capital projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49544/21]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development

I propose to take Questions Nos. 689 and 690 together.

The emergence of the Men’s Sheds in recent years has been a very positive development for communities across Ireland. They provide a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where people of all ages can share skills and work on meaningful projects and connect with their communities.

My Department is providing a range of supports which both Men's and Women’s Sheds can avail of, depending on the works being completed.

In 2018 the Community Enhancement Programme (CEP) provided capital funding for community groups which included €0.5m that was ring-fenced for Men's Sheds and again in 2019, €0.5m was ring-fenced under the programme for both Men's & Women's Sheds. Typical uses for this capital funding was the purchase of equipment, and small repairs or renovations.

In 2020, the CEP received total funding of €7.2m, including €5m under the Government's July stimulus package for repairs or upgrades to community centres and community buildings. Many shed groups received capital funding under this programme including for example 11 shed groups in Co. Clare.

In May this year, I launched the 2021 Community Enhancement Programme with funding of €4.5m. This programme provides small capital grants to community groups to enhance their facilities and towards the reopening of facilities. Men's & Women's sheds along with other community groups could apply to this funding programme. My Department is collating this data at present but I understand a number of Shed groups have been approved funding from the 2021 CEP.

The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) has provided supports to over 200 Men’s Sheds since 2018, with small grants totaling over €98,000 awarded to 116 Men’s Sheds. This support, usually in the form of training and capacity building, will continue to be available throughout the current iteration of SICAP which runs until 2023.

The Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO) provides multi-annual funding towards core costs of national, community and voluntary organisations. The current scheme runs from 1st July 2019 to 30th June 2022. The Irish Men’s Sheds Association was allocated €270,000 over the three year period of the scheme.

My Department also funded the national organisation, the Irish Men’s Sheds Association under the Stability Fund in 2020, with €70,424 in current funding to support the organisation to continue to deliver services despite the challenges brought by COVID-19.

In order to provide all the detail regarding grants to individual sheds, my Department is currently collating the information and will arrange for it to be forwarded directly to the Deputy when that process is complete.

Question No. 690 answered with Question No. 689.

Departmental Data

Questions (691)

Holly Cairns

Question:

691. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of State boards under the remit of her Department or its agencies in tabular form; the number of members of each board; the number of women on each board; and the percentage of each board that is made up of women. [49566/21]

Written answers

Minister for Rural and Community Development

My Department actively promotes gender balance on the State Boards under its auspices.

The table below provides the Gender Balance Percentage for the four Agencies under my remit. These Boards exceed the Government target of a minimum of 40% representation of each gender in the membership of State Boards, with the exception of the Charities Regulator. This is a matter which is being kept under review.

Board	No. Members	No. Female Board Members	Gender Balance Percentage: Female	Gender Balance Percentage: Male
Western Development Commission	12	6	50%	50%
Charities Regulatory Authority	11	4	36%	64%
Pobal	10	7	70%	30%
Water Safety Ireland	12	5	42%	58%

Departmental Contracts

Questions (692)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

692. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number and value all procurement contracts that took place by way of negotiated procedure without prior publication in 2020 and to date in 2021; and the date, value and purpose of each negotiated procedure contract in tabular form. [49736/21]

Written answers

Minister for Rural and Community Development

I can confirm that no procurement contracts were entered into by way of negotiated procedure, without prior publication, by my Department in either 2020 or in 2021 to-date.